Yosemite National Park

With a blare of trumpets and a blaze of bright-colored costumes, the feast begins. For a few hours on a few evenings each December, the Dining Room of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park is transformed into a great baronial hall in the English countryside, propelling guests back in time to a Christmas that could only exist in the imagination. The Bracebridge Dinner is a tradition as old as the hotel itself. The first was in 1927, five months after the Ahwahnee opened, and legendary photographer Ansel Adams was one of the principal forces behind the event in the early years.

Curses, Foiled Again An armed robber entered a Pizza Hut restaurant in Statesville, N.C., and ordered worker Therman Martin to empty the safe. Martin told WSOC-TV that when he explained he couldn't open the safe because "I'm just the oven man," the robber forced him into the bathroom and tried to shoot him, but the gun misfired. Martin then bit the robber's hand until he dropped the gun and took off running. He paused, Martin said, and asked, "Please give me the gun back, it's not my gun, and I'll leave."

A rock-climbing duo from California and Japan now owns the record for scaling the granite nose of Yosemite National Park's iconic El Capitan. The Yosemite Climbing Association says 44-year-old Hans Florine and 39-year-old Yuji Hirayama beat the previous record by 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Their time on the approximately 3,000-foot climb was 2 hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds. It was their third attempt at the record in a week, and their only trouble came midway through the climb when a rope stuck in the Stove Leg Cracks forced one of them to descend to untangle it. In October, German brothers Thomas and Alexander Hubner broke the old record set by Florine and Hirayama by 3 minutes.

Our national parks exert a primal pull on visitors from around the world who come by the millions to drink in the natural wonders. The astounding beauty of these wild places, preserved for the benefit of future generations, is almost spiritual for many. In addition, the parks offer limitless possibilities for outdoor adventures such as hiking, rafting, kayaking, fishing, camping, rock climbing, horseback riding and wildlife spotting. There are 58 national parks in the United States. Each offers a unique experience, and a visit to any is worthy.

Yosemite National Park, Calif. -- Like more than 100 other tourists, Ralph and Walleen Biederman, of Los Banos, arrived at the west gate to Yosemite National Park at the crack of dawn on Monday, expecting a "long, wild wait" when the park reopened at noon. Instead, the Biedermans and hundreds of other visitors in campers and trailers lining Highway 140 were waved into the newly reopened park 90 minutes earlier than scheduled. Within the first hour, 800 vehicles had entered the park`s two gates.

A motel handyman who reportedly has confessed to killing four women in the Yosemite National Park area this year pleaded not guilty on Friday to a federal murder charge in U.S. District Court. Standing erect in a bright yellow jail jumpsuit, a tan and fit Cary Stayner rolled his shoulders once and sighed as his attorney entered the not guilty plea in the murder last month of Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, a naturalist at the park. Separate murder charges in the February deaths of three Yosemite tourists also are expected to be brought against Stayner, 37. Those proceedings will be in state court because the victims were killed outside the park and beyond federal jurisdiction.

Still trying to cope with flood damage, Yosemite National Park will require visitors on holidays and busy summer weekends to do something they never have had to do in the park's 107-year history: Make a reservation. "This is an emergency response to the flood damage," said Kendell Thompson of the National Park Service. "Visitors with overnight accommodations won't be impacted. It's going to affect those people who look out the window on a Sunday or holiday and say, `It's a great day outside.

Dam! Water, Power, Politics, and Preservation in Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite National Park. John Warfield Simpson. Pantheon. 384 pages. Yosemite National Park is a beautiful land of betrayal. The name of the valley, with its towering waterfalls in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, was taken from the Yosemite Indians, who were massacred and driven from their sacred home by the U.S. Army in 1851. Fifteen years later, Congress pledged to preserve Yosemite as the world's first national park.

A river slowly meanders through a valley, the water splashing playfully off the rocks. Gradually it sweeps faster in its path, chasing logs and leaves along in its wake. Rushing, boulder-strewn cataracts churn and thunder, heralding a distant roar that speeds ever closer. The river suddenly disappears into blue sky, the foaming lip of an ever-breaking wave curving the water from horizontal to vertical. A free fall of thousands of feet to a canyon floor below, ending violently on once-jagged stones rubbed smooth by a trillion drops of water.

An uncontrolled wildfire near one of the main entrances to Yosemite National Park destroyed 15 buildings, including eight homes in the town of Midpines, and burned more than 28 square miles of brush and woodlands, authorities said Sunday. With smoke and ashes blanketing much of the storied wilderness area, residents were evacuated from about 500 homes and authorities have been forced to cut power to the park. No injuries were reported but the fire remains entirely uncontained, Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Sunday afternoon.

John, John, John. You know you're never going to hear the end of this. And I'm not even talking about your kids' "What-I-did-during-my-summer-vacation" chart-topper of a story. By now, everyone in these United States knows the tale of the Pala family from Boca Raton. How you and your 10-year-old son, Alex, fought off a black bear that attacked your 8-year-old, Evan, on a camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Great stuff. Congratulations for reacting how every father wishes he would react in a time of hyper-stress and danger.

An uncontrolled wildfire near one of the main entrances to Yosemite National Park destroyed 15 buildings, including eight homes in the town of Midpines, and burned more than 28 square miles of brush and woodlands, authorities said Sunday. With smoke and ashes blanketing much of the storied wilderness area, residents were evacuated from about 500 homes and authorities have been forced to cut power to the park. No injuries were reported but the fire remains entirely uncontained, Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Sunday afternoon.

A rock-climbing duo from California and Japan now owns the record for scaling the granite nose of Yosemite National Park's iconic El Capitan. The Yosemite Climbing Association says 44-year-old Hans Florine and 39-year-old Yuji Hirayama beat the previous record by 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Their time on the approximately 3,000-foot climb was 2 hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds. It was their third attempt at the record in a week, and their only trouble came midway through the climb when a rope stuck in the Stove Leg Cracks forced one of them to descend to untangle it. In October, German brothers Thomas and Alexander Hubner broke the old record set by Florine and Hirayama by 3 minutes.

In the summer, the wild beauty of America's most popular national parks can be hard to see, much less experience, amid swarms of camera-toting tourists and caravans of RVs. But in the fall, the crowds begin to subside. Roads clear, animals come out of hiding and coveted rooms at lodges inside the parks open up. Some parks in the East, like Shenandoah and the Smokies, remain very busy on fall weekends with leaf-peepers. But most parks experience a significant drop in visitors in fall and winter.

First of three parts With higher postage rates in effect, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing not only new commemoratives, but higher-value definitives, postal cards, envelopes and special stamps intended for various domestic and international mailings. Definitives are regular-issue stamps that, unlike commemoratives, are printed in large quantities and sold over a long period of time. Commemoratives honor important people, places, events, ideas or anniversaries and are printed in limited quantities for a short time.

Dam! Water, Power, Politics, and Preservation in Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite National Park. John Warfield Simpson. Pantheon. 384 pages. Yosemite National Park is a beautiful land of betrayal. The name of the valley, with its towering waterfalls in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, was taken from the Yosemite Indians, who were massacred and driven from their sacred home by the U.S. Army in 1851. Fifteen years later, Congress pledged to preserve Yosemite as the world's first national park.

This administration has gotten away with so many "explanations" that insult the public's intelligence that it is now routinely using excuses that would not stand up under even a momentary scrutiny. The latest example is the Interior Department's plan to radically restrict the public's access to Yosemite National Park. Supposedly this is because of automobile congestion and a lack of parking space. But the Clinton administration's plans include eliminating roadways and parking lots within the park.

A Japanese connection to a store at Yosemite National Park is preventing Palm Beach County residents and visitors from taking boat rides through the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Until federal officials finish investigating the Japanese connection, local officials are prohibited from replacing a company that until 1990 offered boat tours and rentals at the sanctuary west of U.S. 441, refuge Director Burkett Neely said on Tuesday. "We expected to have it up and running by now," he said.

With a blare of trumpets and a blaze of bright-colored costumes, the feast begins. For a few hours on a few evenings each December, the Dining Room of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park is transformed into a great baronial hall in the English countryside, propelling guests back in time to a Christmas that could only exist in the imagination. The Bracebridge Dinner is a tradition as old as the hotel itself. The first was in 1927, five months after the Ahwahnee opened, and legendary photographer Ansel Adams was one of the principal forces behind the event in the early years.

We like to tuck away our dreams. Like to slip them into some place only we know. A private place. For wishes and desires only we can feel. It could be the sales brochure for a sailboat. Kept squirreled away under your desk calendar. A pamphlet for an art school. Inserted into a side pocket of your backpack. A picture of the North Carolina mountains that you hope will eventually become the view from your kitchen window. Slipped into the visor of your car. Our wished-for world, secret and secure, but always near and available.